New Hampshire Roll Call: March 2, 2014

Sunday

Mar 2, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Recent legislative action includes:

Recent legislative action includes:

College-career funding

House Bill 1146, "establishing a committee to study the feasibility of funding a kindergarten to college/career-ready program and universal college savings account," is co-sponsored by Rep. Donna Schlachman, D-Exeter.

Voting 16 to 6 recommending passage, the Finance Committee majority reported, "Young students, with limited family finances, never consider that they may have an opportunity to attend college or a technical school. These accounts may be funded by a foundation, a community, the state or an individual; the cohort may be students in the state, a region, a city or town. Students, parents and others may add to the fund over the 13 years a student is enrolled in a public school."

Opposing passage, the minority wrote, "This bill contemplates yet another scheme for sending public funds to higher education. Over the last generation we've seen federal spending for colleges balloon to over $100 billion a year. All this money has disappeared down the black hole of tuition increases. More money is not the answer."

HB 1489, "establishing a committee to study the establishment of a fund to reimburse costs associated with firefighters who have cancer," is co-sponsored by Rep. Pantelakos. It creates a special study committee of three House and three Senate members. The Finance Committee voted 14 to 8 recommending passage.

The majority reported, "HB 1489's purpose is to establish a dedicated fund to reimburse cost associated with firefighters who have heart, lung and cancer disease and to continually support that dedicated fund. After three work sessions the majority of the committee determined that a study committee was needed to review the many variables in the bill.

Recommending that the bill be further studied within the Finance Committee itself instead of creating a new study committee, the minority wrote, "The creation of a study committee with members who were not part of the hearings and work sessions will require an extensive learning curve. The duties of the majority-proposed study committee are quite limited. These limited duties as well as the composition of the study committee may not result in solving the problems associated with firefighters and cancer."

HB 1404, "relative to payroll cards," is sponsored by Reps. Cahill and Moody. The Labor Committee voted 15 to 3 recommending passage. The majority reported, "This bill corrects abuses and provides new protections for employees who opt for compensation via electronic pay cards. Conditions set forth in this legislation include elimination of a number of 'gotcha' or surprise fees, provide better access to card balances, and mandate disclosure of all payment options and transaction fees in clear and plain language."

The minority wrote, "There is no need for this bill. Existing federal and state laws are sufficient. Further, this bill legislates business policy, furthering the assault on management rights and business in general."

HB 1477, "exempting proprietorships from taxation under the Business Profits Tax," was recommended for defeat 17 to 3 by the Ways and Means Committee.

The committee reported, "First, N.H. would face the possible loss of over $17 million in revenue based on the historical background of the tax. Proprietorships have usually paid about 5% of the total BPT, and 5% of the estimated BPT revenue in Fiscal Year 2015 ($341,500,000) would be more than $17 million. Second, legal precedent also indicates that a constitutional challenge could be made as this legislation exempts a classification of taxpayers."

The bill was defeated 214 to 67. "Yes" supported the motion to kill the bill, "no" favored other action:

Senate Bill 322, "relative to the re-nomination of teachers," was co-sponsored by Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth. It reduced from five to three consecutive years of teaching required for teachers to be entitled to a nomination and a hearing when the teacher is not reappointed to his or her position.

The bill was killed 13 to 11. Voting for a motion to kill it were Sens. Russell Prescott, R-Kingston, and Nancy Stiles, R-Hampton, against was Fuller Clark. All Senate Democrats voted against killing the bill; all Republicans voted in favor of defeat.

This past week, Rep. Amy Perkins, R-Seabrook, passed away after a long illness. She will be missed at the Statehouse.

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